If I Throw Myself into His Sea - Episode 1.1

As he was devising a plan, the Kingdom of Epin presented him with one proposal. The condition was that they would send a princess of Epin to secure his legitimacy, in exchange for receiving a vast sum of money from Pereian. After much deliberation, he formally sent a marriage proposal to the Kingdom of Epin. Upon confirming the sum that accompanied the marriage proposal, the King of Epin made preparations to send the princess.

However, the princess who would go to the underwater kingdom was not his beloved legitimate daughter, but a bastard born to a maidservant of the Queen. This was a top-secret shared by only a few.

“You must fabricate. You must not be discovered. From this moment on, you are a noble princess.”

At her father’s words, the bastard daughter Irene meekly nodded. Fearing that Irene might reveal her status as a bastard upon arriving in Deltia, her father even cast a silence spell upon her.

“If you understand, then go at once.”

There was no engagement ceremony, nor a wedding ceremony. The betrothal was made in absolute secrecy.

For the first time in her life, Irene, clad in a beautiful dress and adorned with jewels that seemed a hundred times more expensive than all the money she had ever saved, boarded a carriage heading towards the sea. Her violet eyes, filled with a dazed expression, reflected the beautiful scenery of the Epin royal castle.

There were no family members by her side to mourn her departure or bless her marriage. Her mother, whom she never knew, had long since died for the sin of giving birth to a bastard, and her only remaining blood relative on this land had sold her off in place of the legitimate daughter. She had no family to see her off, so she had no expectations.

With clumsy hands, Irene smoothed her light golden hair and offered a faint smile. Her eyes, which had seemed lost in thought, soon gleamed with a new light.

‘Deltia…….’

Even though she had lived her entire life in the castle’s basement, the underwater kingdom did not feel entirely unfamiliar to Irene.

-This sea, Deltia… has many things you’ll like. The sea. And the heart of the sea, Deltia. It was an unknown territory no one had ever set foot in, but there lived Irene’s long-ago first love. A first love she had never met in person, but whose voice alone stirred her heart.

‘Ian, I hope you’re doing well.’

That child whose voice, even roughened by puberty, was beautiful. That boy she had shared her pain with for years, clutching a conch communicator that had accidentally come into her possession on her fourteenth birthday.

‘Will I be able to meet him?’

Though she couldn’t inform him of her marriage due to his sudden disappearance, Irene somehow had a premonition that she could meet her first love if she went to the sea.

Clutching her hands, chilled by nervousness, she endured the jolting of the carriage for ten hours. As they reached a cliff on a secluded beach far from the capital, the carriage carrying Irene finally stopped.

“Get out.”

The accompanying knight, without the courtesy of offering a hand, merely threw out a cold remark. Stepping out of the carriage and onto the rocky cliff, a strong wind buffeted Irene’s body. As her elaborately styled hair was completely scattered by the wind, rendering her efforts futile, Irene sighed briefly.

“Is this the place?”

Looking around, Irene tidied her hair with a timid gesture and asked the knight. The knight, four steps away, merely looked at the princess and offered no reply.

‘Here it is.’ The gateway to the Underwater Kingdom was here.

Swallowing hard, Irene slowly walked towards the edge of the cliff. At last, the precipice unfolded before her eyes.

Beneath her feet, the angry sea was churning the waves with all its might. If one were to praise it, it was a sapphire blue beauty; if one were to lament it, it was a deep and dark sea, as if to swallow Irene’s body in an instant.

“If you see the sea below the cliff, throw yourself in at once.” Recalling her father’s command, Irene slowly exhaled. According to his words, Irene had to throw herself in here. ‘Will it hurt?’ As she stopped and hesitated, the knight cleared his throat, urging her on. Irene’s gaze wavered.

Looking down at the sea once more with eyes as fearful as if facing death, Irene flinched as her eyes met a figure beneath the surface.

The waves, churning as if wary of the storm about to break. Beneath them, there was a man who made her feel as if she were sinking into the abyss, simply by meeting his gaze.

Irene could instantly recognize the man’s identity. ‘The King of the Underwater Kingdom.’ The man who would now become Irene’s husband had come to escort her himself.

‘Really a new life.’ It finally felt real. The memories of abuse. The experiences of neglect. That she could finally leave this land, stained with all those painful emotions. The land’s storms that had tormented Irene every year were now a farewell.

Watching the endlessly circulating waves, Irene recalled the new life she had dreamed of since she was ordered to marry.

-This sea where I live will surely be kind to you. Because I will make even rough waves and fierce sea beasts kind to you. Ian had always told Irene so. Though she felt fear, her faith in Ian never wavered, so Irene pressed her lips together tightly. Still, angry waves and the Sea King occupied her vision.

‘A sea kind to me….’ In that sea, her husband, like a legendary sea god, awaited Irene, riding a horse sculpted from water.

There was no longer any reason to hesitate. There were no people of the Epin royal family in the sea who had tormented Irene. There were no people who hurt her in the name of family.

Her husband was waiting to greet her, and once she entered Deltia, she would be able to find Ian too. Taking a deep breath, Irene threw herself straight down below the cliff. The plunge was instantaneous. The world turned upside down for a moment.

In the fleeting moment of falling, Irene opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut. A sense of liberation washed over her as she confirmed that the land that had held her captive was above.

As soon as she touched the surface of the water, Irene, whose waist was held by the man, blinked her eyes that wouldn’t open easily and tried hard to confirm his face. Far from seeing his face, bubbles obscured her vision, and all she saw was a chaotic scene. Her breath grew increasingly difficult, and moving was painful. Since a land-dweller had fallen into the sea, it was natural that breathing problems would follow.

“Oh dear, wait a moment.”

A strangely familiar voice was heard. The man covered Irene’s eyes with one hand and kissed her forehead directly. As his lips slowly pulled away, her breathing became easier. Irene gasped for air and recalled her adoptive father’s words. “When you go into the water, your husband will cast a protective spell on you.” A protective spell that allows land-dwellers to live underwater. It was clear that the monarch of Deltia had cast that spell through a kiss.

The man, who had cleared away the wildly swirling bubbles, scanned Irene’s face, which was still unable to open her eyes properly.

“My, the noble princess has become quite a mess.”

He gently stroked and tidied her tangled hair as she submerged, then held Irene’s face and lifted it.

“Now, open your eyes. You must see what kind of man your husband is.”

At his fierce tone, which was close to a command, Irene cautiously opened her eyes and examined his face.

Hair as black as swallowed darkness. Red eyes, contrasting with the blue sea, fitting for the title ‘Lord of Blood’. A being sculpted beautifully by the gods. If there were jewels in the deep sea, they would surely resemble him.

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